Saltpond-Ankaful Community appeals for a basic school

Residents of Ankaful, a community in the Mfantseman Municipality of the Central Region have appealed for the construction of a basic school to enable their children of school-going age to have easy access to basic education.

With a population of about 2,000, the Town has no basic school, compelling children to trek long distances to school at Saltpond and other towns.

This came to light during a Town Hall meeting jointly organised by the Parish Justice and Peace Committee (PJPC) of the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and the Mfantseman Municipal Assembly on Tuesday.

The Town Hall meeting formed part of a local government project initiated by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference and held under the theme “Community Participation in Local Government for Rapid Development".

Opinion leaders of the community decried the lack of a school building in the Area, as their children trekked many kilometers on a daily basis to the nearest school at Saltpond.

Mr. Kenneth Essuman, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) of Mfantseman in a response to the request, promised to ensure that proceeds from the sale of premix fuel were used to construct a six-unit classroom block for the community.

He said access to quality education formed part of a comprehensive development agenda which the Assembly was pursuing and reiterated his commitment to have the school established in the community.

“We seek to ensure that every community have its fair share of the resources available to the Assembly, no community would be left out of this agenda,” he assured and applauded the community members for demonstrating a commitment for development.

He said investing in education was the surest way to build the human resource base of the country and gave the assurance that the Assembly would liaise with the Municipal Education Directorate to provide the needed assistance.

Nana Kofi Ntsiful V, the chief of Ankaful commended the MCE for the assurance and called on other stakeholders to contribute their quota towards the school project in the community.

Mrs. Eunice Eshun, PJPC Coordinator, explained that the Catholic Church had a social doctrine to teach its members good governance and politics, hence the community participation in a local government project.

She said the Church through the project hoped to create awareness to generate greater interest and participation in district-level elections for massive community-led developments.